Jerry Jones Plans To Make Things Uncomfortable, CowboysNation Rolls Their Eyes
Can You Feel the heat? Neither can I.
December 9, 2012; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones walks on the field before the game against the Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Greg Bartram-USA TODAY Sports
The Dallas Cowboys finished 8 – 8 for the second year in a row. These Cowboys are the epitome of mediocre. Change is called for and change should take place, but will change happen?
Probably not.
Is this acceptable? This is THE Dallas Cowboys after all, America’s Team. They were integral in the shaping and development and wild popularity of the NFL. The Cowboys are winners. They’ve been to more SuperBowls than any other team. They have the best uniforms, their cheerleaders are world famous. They have a hole in the roof so God can look down and watch his favorite team play. That big, expensive stadium, the largest domed structure in the world, I think, worthy of champions. Does any of this speak of mediocrity?
But mediocrity we have, for about 16 years now. SIXTEEN YEARS! We still can claim to be the most popular team, the biggest draw for TV ratings, but it’s all eroding, and will continue to erode, as long as being average, being mediocre, is accepted.
The excuse/theory many use is that, do to the successful push by the NFL for parody, most teams are average, with the opportunity each year, with a few breaks, for a mediocre team to make a SuperBowl run, a la the New York Giants or the 8 – 8 Arizona Cardinals a few years ago. The salary cap dictates this. This does make sense, if every team was coached the same and all draft choices worked out as scouted. They don’t so it doesn’t.
Can any team beat another in this NFL on any given Sunday? Absolutely. This is, after all, why they play the games. But, at the same time, we can all point out, right now, the best teams and the worst teams. These current playoffs not withstanding. I’ll spare the list, but suffice it to say that the Dallas Cowboys don’t fit in either category, same as 2/3 of the league. In truth, the only teams that hang there hat on the ‘get hot at the right time and make a run’ theory, like the Cowboys do, are the teams in that 2/3. They know they are not the best, but they certainly know they aren’t the Jacksonville Jaguars either.
Jerry Jones seems to have, over the last 6 years for sure, accepted that his Dallas Cowboys can’t be great, so he shoots for just above average. At least that’s how it seems. He wants a team that can make it to the playoffs, instead of insisting on a team that can win a SuperBowl.
The playoffs aren’t good enough for CowboysNation, or they shouldn’t be. The Dallas Cowboys should be SuperBowl or bust.
The Cowboys play in the biggest stage in the NFL in Cowboys Stadium. But they are not, as currently assembled or coached, worthy of that grand a stage. No wonder that they don’t really have a home field advantage.
Listen, I like Cowboys head coach, Jason Garrett. The team he puts out on the field never quits, they are scrappy. But I don’t think CowboysNation wants a scrappy, never gonna quit, team. CowboysNation wants a winner. They don’t want a team that can ‘make a run’, they want a winner. No offense, Garrett, but CowboysNation – we – don’t want to ‘be great today’, we want to be great this year. We want to be great all the time.
Jerry Jones is gonna make things uncomfortable at Valley Ranch, in part to appease CowboysNation. Uncomfortable? Really? Our collective eyes roll.
He senses the fan base is uneasy. He’s right.